Fleming’s treble seals Clara victory in nine goal thriller
CCFL Senior Division: Mullingar Town 4 Clara Town 5
By Gerry Buckley
It was a pity that no discernible neutral fans braved the cold conditions in Dalton Park last Sunday morning as the two red and black-clad ‘Towns’ served up a nine-goal thriller, at the end of which Clara left with maximum points at Mullingar’s expense.
However, management is a results-driven business, as Mick McCarthy famously pointed out, and the Town duo of Jacko McNamee and Mark Brady will be very unhappy with the concession of five goals on their pristine pitch, remarkably so given all the rain in the days preceding the game.
Clara's Robert Bracken had a ‘goal’ disallowed in the sixth minute for a tight offside call – the referee has no assistants at this level. But there was to be no denying Josh Fleming some five minutes later, the centre-forward turning smartly before bearing down on goal and finishing with aplomb with a low shot past Colin McGowan.
Sean Tierney almost conceded an own goal directly from the resultant kick-off, but the ball was in the Mullingar net again in the 14th minute, with Lorcan Connolly the Clara man on target.
However, within two minutes, the home team halved the deficit when a visiting defender was deemed to have handled the ball at the end of an inswinging corner by Darragh Kiernan, and skipper Jason Charles converted the ensuing spot kick with trademark composure.
Claims for another Mullingar penalty were waved away in the 25th minute when Darren Keena may have been impeded. But they managed to get on level terms (2-2) before the break, great right-wing surge by Paul Reid teeing up Keena whose somewhat unconvincing close-range shot went in via ‘keeper Gavin Fleming.
The action continued to come thick and fast on the change of ends, but no goals materialised until the 66th minute when Clara substitute Neil Robbins superbly curled the ball into the top corner of McGowan’s net from the edge of the box, after the Mullingar defenders had failed to clear the ball.
The sides were on level terms again in the 75th minute, Charles doubling his penalty kick haul after an unnecessary foul on lively Mullingar sub Dan Beya.
The celebrations had just about concluded when Fleming scored an amazing goal from a right-wing free from what looked like an innocuous position
In the 80th minute, Beya did very well to set up Sam Watkins who had the relatively simple task of guiding the ball to the net from close range, making it 4-4.
However, the ninth goal of a remarkable contest came with seven minutes of normal time remaining when Luke Dignam set up Fleming, who coolly completed his hat-trick.
Mullingar went all-out in search of another equaliser, but some half-chances were spurned in the closing stages.
Clara Town: Gavin Fleming, Lee Tierney, Pa Smith, Alex Hall, Sean Tierney, Adam Kelly, Lorcan Connolly, David Minnock, Josh Fleming, Luke Dignam, Robert Bracken. Subs used: Neil Robbins for S Tierney (59 mins), Kyle Stewart for L Tierney (79), Kiefer Kelly for Fleming (90+2), Christopher McKeown for Smith (90+4).
Mullingar Town: Colin McGowan, Paul Reid, Darragh Kiernan, Enda Morris, Jason Charles, Sean Reid, Jamie Loran, David Dyer, Sam Watkins, Shane O’Keeffe, Darren Keena. Subs used: Dan Beya for Loran (h-t), TJ Cox for Morris (60 mins), Danny McConnell for P Reid (71).
Referee: Dean Stenson.